F1 2012 - A Retrospective Part 11: Germany
Qualifying
It was yet another wet qualifying session as Formula One reached the halfway point of the 2012 season. Everyone anticipated rain in Q1 and thus there was a mad rush to get out on track, but it never arrived. However, Michael Schumacher left it late to secure a place in Q2, finishing .055s ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne in 18th.
As Q2 began, the rain finally started to pour. The changing conditions meant the first run was the most crucial because that was the track at its driest, or ‘least wet’ but Felipe Massa ran wide at Turn Eight, which cost him the half a second that saw him only manage 14th place. He started 13th once penalties were applied.
But by the time Q3 rolled around, the full Wet tyres were needed. Drivers complained of aquaplaning, with Nico Hulkenberg losing control of his car at one point, but he avoided any damage and was able to set a lap.
He went fifth fastest in the Force India at his home race, and was promoted to fourth due to a gearbox change to Mark Webber’s car which earned him a five place grid penalty.
It was a second pole position in a row for Fernando Alonso, he went four tenths quicker than second place Sebastian Vettel. Alonso was proving the master of the wet weather this season, having won in Malaysia and now earning pole position at both of the rain affected qualifying sessions so far.
Webber finished third, but started in eighth. This promoted Schumacher to third. There were three German drivers inside the top four, the first time that had happened at the German Grand Prix.
Pastor Maldonado started the race in fifth after finishing sixth in Q3. He was quicker than both McLaren drivers. Lewis Hamilton was fastest in Q2 by seven tenths, but was only quick enough for eighth in Q3. He qualified behind Jenson Button for the first time since China. They started the race in sixth and seventh.
Paul di Resta and Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top 10. Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean started in 19th, he was handed a five place grid penalty from 15th. Nico Rosberg struggled as he qualified in 17th. He was also slapped with a five place grid penalty so started the race in 21st.
Sergio Perez was handed a five place grid penalty, he dropped from 12th to 17th, for impeding both Alonso and Raikkonen during Q2.
The penalties worked out that Perez’s was applied first, moving Grosjean and Rosberg up a place, then their penalties were applied. This is why they only effectively moved down four places.
Pre-Race
The last five races in Hockenheim were all won from the front row. The most recent one at this circuit saw the infamous “Fernando [Alonso] is faster than you,” Ferrari team orders incident in 2010. That time it was a role reversal to 2012, with Vettel on pole and Alonso in second.
This was also the first race on this track for Pirelli. The German Grand Prix was on a rotated basis with Nurburgring and the Italian tyre manufacturer joined the sport in 2011. This meant the teams lacked the same knowledge of tyre life here than the other circuits.
The drivers all had a free choice of tyre to start the race on. Kamui Kobayashi was the only driver inside the top 12 to opt for the Medium compound. Jean-Eric Vergne (15th), Charles Pic (20th), Rosberg (21st), and Timo Glock (22nd) also went for the harder tyre choice.
“A lot of teams are saying it is actually very, very close here in terms of out and out pace, and that’s all complicated a bit by the fact that every single one of these slick (dry) tyres, Martin [Brundle], is a brand new set of tyres that are going on [the cars] because of that wet qualifying,” said David Croft.
A close race was expected, with no car having a significant advantage over their rivals, it was anyone’s race to take the victory.
Vettel had never won his home race at Hockenheim and he had also never won a race in July. This was as good a chance as any to right those two wrongs.
Race
Alonso got off the line fastest and was clear in front on the run into Turn One. Vettel got bogged down slightly and was immediately under pressure from Schumacher as the cars streamed into the hairpin at Turn Six. Schumacher tried the cut back on Vettel, but the Red Bull driver held on for second.
Further back, Button passed Maldonado on the outside of Turn Two into Turn Three, he was now up to fifth. Webber had a decent start, he moved ahead of Hamilton and was now seventh. Raikkonen also passed the McLaren, leaving the 2008 World Champion down in ninth.
On the run down to Turn Six, the long winding straight, Raikkonen attempted a move on Webber, but that allowed Hamilton to squeeze back ahead of the Lotus on the run into Turn Seven.
Grosjean ran wide at Turn Four, he lost the car and just barely wrestled back control in the run-off area. He did well to avoid an accident with anyone, or any of the barriers.
Alonso held a 1.3s lead at the start of lap two. There was a lot of loose bodywork lying around Turn One.
Massa pitted and it was only now that it was shown he had no front wing! Replays showed he misjudged the start off the line and ran into the back of Daniel Ricciardo, which clipped off his entire front wing. Grosjean and Bruno Senna also came in.
On track, Button was applying intense pressure on Hulkenberg in the battle for fourth.
At the start of lap three, Hamilton ran wide at Turn One and lost two places, followed by an overtake by Ricciardo into Turn Two.
“I’ve got a problem! I’ve got a problem, flat tyre!” said Hamilton, his left rear was punctured by the debris lying around the track. He was forced to come in for a set of Mediums.
“That’s it guys, we should retire the car,” said a dejected Hamilton, but he stayed out. McLaren obviously disagreed. This was no way to celebrate his 100th F1 Grand Prix start.
On lap four, Vettel caught up to Alonso and was now within DRS range of the Ferrari. Raikkonen was also applying a lot of pressure on di Resta for eighth.
On lap five, that pressure told and Raikkonen got by the Scot with a great battle that began at the run into Turn Four and culminated in a brave run around the outside at Turn Eight.
The pass was completed at Turn Nine and the Finn was now free to push in free air to catch up with Webber.
Behind that, Perez dove down the inside of Ricciardo and Kobayashi at Turn Four and completed the move for tenth, but Kobayashi cut back on the inside of them both and moved back into tenth.
Ricciardo lost two places at the corner having passed Kobayashi at Turn Three. They all held tenth at one point around that corner, but it was the Japanese driver who came out on top into Turn Seven.
On lap seven, a radio message was played to Alonso in Italian. “Don’t worry,” he responded. The Spaniard was still in total control over this race despite the pressure from Vettel behind. Brundle laughed at the calmness of Alonso’s message, his respect for the Ferrari driver was clear.
Perez passed Kobayashi on the straight into Turn Four for tenth. The two were on different strategies so it was perhaps team orders that allowed that move, however the effect of DRS meant it was likely to happen anyway.
Hamilton was complaining over the radio that his car didn’t feel stable, but his lap times were as good as the drivers out in front, so he continued on from the back of the pack. Meanwhile, his teammate finally made the move on Hulkenberg stick, he dove down the inside of the Force India at Turn Four.
Perez began to gain on di Resta ahead and he passed him using DRS before Turn Four and was now up to ninth place. Button was gaining on Schumacher ahead.
Vettel was hovering around DRS range on Alonso, but he was unable to get close enough to make a move. Alonso was controlling the pace excellently.
On lap 11, Button pulled off an almost identical pass on Schumacher. He dove down the inside at Turn Four, it even looked like he caught the seven time World Champion off guard by making the decision to do so extremely late. He was up from sixth to third now.
Raikkonen’s race engineer told him that they thought the Option (Soft) tyre was the best so they were going to stick with their plan. With that, he came into the pits at the end of that lap for his first stop. He went onto another new set of Soft tyres.
Webber and Hulkenberg reacted by coming in on lap 12, but they both opted for a new set of Medium tyres. Webber came out behind Raikkonen, the undercut worked. Raikkonen then overtook a Caterham at Turn Three to create a degree of separation between himself and the Australian.
The front three cars were going quickest at this point. But Raikkonen went fastest on his first properly timed out-lap. Maldonado reacted on lap 13 by coming in for his first stop. But, again, Raikkonen got ahead with the undercut.
Webber ran wide at Turn One, which allowed Maldonado to maintain his position ahead of the Red Bull. The Venezuelan, like Raikkonen, was able to pass the Caterham to open a gap on Webber into Turn Four.
Schumacher came in on lap 14 for a set of Soft tyres. He was overtaken by Hulkenberg as he arrived back on track. However, Schumacher was able to pick up DRS and the slipstream to stay close to the Force India. He stayed close to him on the run into Turn Seven and dove down the inside of Turn Eight to retake the position.
The gap opened up by the Mercedes allowed room for Raikkonen to take advantage and he followed right behind to pass Hulkenberg at Turn Nine. That was a clever piece of opportunism from the Lotus driver. That was the battle for seventh, with the two Sauber drivers and Ricciardo ahead yet to stop.
Perez, in fourth, was now going quicker than the front three. None of them had come in for their first stop, but the Mexican was 14s behind. The front three needed to cover a full pit stop ahead, or wait until Perez came in, before they could come in. They weren’t waiting long, as he came in on lap 17.
“Good job, Sebastian [Vettel], keep pushing,” was the message to the two time champion. The gap between him and Alonso was 2.2s.
Brundle was unsure if cars were two-stopping, or if they would have to come in a third time. The Mediums would have to go a long distance if cars were to pull off a two-stop. There were still 50 laps to go, and most cars managed only 15 or so laps on the first set of Soft tyres.
Alonso was the first of the front three to come in, he arrived into the pit lane on lap 18. He switched to a set of Medium tyres and came out in third. Webber was visibly struggling on his set of Mediums, which Brundle was unimpressed by.
Button came in for his first stop on lap 19. He failed to clear Kobayashi so was stuck in fifth. Hamilton was asking his team if there was any chance of rain to potentially save his race — a clear call of desperation — but none was forthcoming.
Webber finally showed some confidence on his tyres and passed Maldonado at Turn Six. Weirdly, it looked like Webber had pulled out of the move, only for the Williams to invite him down the inside by opening up a massive space that Webber would be rude to refuse.
Vettel came in on lap 20 and he too failed to clear Kobayashi, who was now in second. Ricciardo also pitted, moving Button up to fourth.
Vettel didn’t have to wait too long to pass Kobayashi, as he was able to make good use of DRS on the exit out of the pit lane. The Sauber didn’t even feign to defend against the much quicker Red Bull. For Vettel, the chase to Alonso was back on.
Further behind, Raikkonen passed Schumacher at the exit of Turn Six. He moved to cut-back on the German out of the corner, and the greater traction gave him the straight line speed to get ahead into Turn Seven.
“We are racing to win this race,” Button was told, he managed to cut the gap to Vettel by 2.5s during the pit stop phase. Kobayashi pitted on lap 22, which gave Button the clear air ahead to attack the gap between the two further.
Meanwhile, Hulkenberg and Perez were battling for sixth, with Webber just behind. Kobayashi came out behind Maldonado, but got caught trying to pass the Spanish Grand Prix winner, which allowed di Resta to pass them both.
Maldonado was clearly struggling, as Kobayashi eventually passed him for tenth at Turn 12. Rosberg was now shaping up for a move around the Williams.
At the front, the gap between Alonso and Button was closing up. There were only 6s between the three, with Vettel and Button both gaining on the Ferrari out in front. Alonso was going slower on these Medium tyres.
On lap 25, Kobayashi passed di Resta for ninth at Turn Six. The broadcast cut to the Sauber garage’s reaction to the move and for some reason there were no chairs, all of the engineers were just sitting on the floor. Rosberg was right behind having overtaken Maldonado.
“Every time we’ve gone on board that Ferrari this weekend it’s been understeering. Alonso seems to be able to manage it, but he just clean understeered off the road a few laps ago,” said Brundle.
Alonso was known for his unusual driving style, but this was an issue he was handling very well. However, Vettel was gaining by a tenth or two every lap at this stage.
Raikkonen was dropping back from the leaders by a second a lap, from fourth. The strategy to run a second set of Soft tyres hadn’t worked and the lower track temperatures weren’t helping as that didn’t suit the Lotus.
By lap 29, the gap separating the front two was down to only .7s, Vettel was back within the DRS range.
Perez and Rosberg both passed a Force India, but Hulkenberg got back at the Sauber and maintained his position. It wasn’t until the next lap that Perez finally made the move stick, he was up to sixth. Webber wasn’t far behind, as he moved up to seventh on lap 31. Hulkenberg came in for his second stop at the end of that lap.
On lap 32, the gap from first to third was down to 4.2s. Raikkonen was complaining his tyres were gone, but his race engineer instructed him that he needed to extend his stint four more laps before he could come in.
Kobayashi was a man on a charge, and he passed Webber at the hairpin at Turn Six and was now up to seventh. Rosberg came in at the end of that lap.
On lap 33, Hamilton was lapped by Alonso and Vettel out of the pit lane, the Briton had just come in for his second stop. Button was lapped by Hamilton in Canada, now only three races later the tables had turned. But wait! Hamilton was in no mood to suffer such an ignominy.
On lap 35, Hamilton unlapped himself from Vettel at Turn Six. Even though he was one lap down, he was still entitled to the use of DRS by staying within one second of the Red Bull. He used it to his advantage and dove down the inside of Vettel at the hairpin.
Vettel didn’t see the funny side, that sort of move got Eddie Irvine punched by Aryton Senna in 1993, and he was waving his arms out at the McLaren as it drove by him.
This worked out perfectly for his teammate, who used this to close the gap on Vettel to within 1.5s. Hamilton wasn’t blue flagged either, his pace was quick enough to keep him ahead, and he was now even pushing to attack the race leader Alonso!
To make matters worse for Vettel, he was told by his race engineer that he didn’t have use of high energy KERS to which he responded “are you kidding me?” The two time World Champion was not happy with the situation he found himself in.
Hamilton was right on the back of Alonso’s gearbox now as he looked to unlap himself completely. Raikkonen and Schumacher were the next to come in over the next two laps. This freed up the track for Button to be the first of the front-runners to pit for a second stop on lap 40.
Webber also came in at the same time, but found himself behind Rosberg, who came in eight laps prior. Red Bull misjudged their window to bring him in and was now behind the Mercedes.
Alonso and Vettel were both forced to react to Button’s stop, they came in at the same time on lap 41. This was going to be a close one.
Alonso came back out still in the race lead, but Vettel was side by side with Button. The 2009 World Champion took advantage of Vettel’s inability to cut across the McLaren to get ahead in the run up to Turn Two.
Vettel wasn’t allowed to cut across the white line out of the pit exit, and that ultimately was the difference between them going into the corner.
Vettel was able to fight back with the use of DRS on the next straight, but Button defended his position and held onto second place. The undercut worked superbly.
For all McLaren’s problems earlier in the season with disastrous pit stop mistakes, they set the quickest pit stop of the season so far for Button’s second change of tyres.
Button was in and out of his box within 2.4s, which was half a second quicker than the second best pit stop of the race. That was the difference between the undercut working and still being stuck behind Vettel, a fantastic team effort.
“Superb, Jenson, absolutely brilliant. Now, let’s have Alonso,” encouraged Button’s race engineer. McLaren were confident they were quick enough to win this race.
The gap covering the top three was now 2.3s, but Vettel ran wide at Turn One to give Button a slight reprieve.
Further back, Kobayashi pitted for his second stop, he came out right behind Hulkenberg. Perez missed out in the pit phase and was now back behind both of them.
“Be smart,” was the message to Vettel. Red Bull thought tyre management might be the difference, so if Vettel maintained his pace for now he might get the benefit from that at the end of the race.
Kobayashi passed Hulkenberg on lap 45, he was now up to sixth place having started in 12th. He then set the fastest lap of anyone so far once he was in the free air.
On lap 46, Button was now within DRS range of Alonso, he had 20 laps to get ahead of the Ferrari, with Vettel also starting to drop back ever so slightly. The pressure was on Alonso. Button was edging ever closer, but was yet to get the chance to make a move for the lead.
On lap 51, Rosberg came in for a third stop. He was in ninth, but dropped back out of the points. This was a gamble as no one else around him looked likely to come in again. Schumacher followed suit on lap 52, he fell from fifth to seventh and was now behind the two Saubers.
Ted Kravitz reported from the pit lane that McLaren expected the final five laps to be the most crucial, but Button was still pushing Alonso for the race lead. Behind them, Vettel ran wide at multiple points, he was visibly struggling with something.
On lap 57, Rosberg passed di Resta for tenth. He was back into the points and his pace was looking good to catch up with Hulkenberg who was behind in ninth again.
By lap 58, the tyres were noticeably falling off compared to the three-stopping Mercedes. Schumacher highlighted this by setting the quickest lap of the race so far. However, it was too late for teams to change to a three-stop, they were committed to their strategies with only 10 laps to go.
McLaren were still encouraging Button that he could win this race, but he’d lost .6s to Alonso on the previous lap. In fact, he also lost .6s to Vettel at the same time and it was now looking like Vettel was ready to fight back for his second place.
The gap between them was down to 1.3s on lap 61, Vettel wasn’t out of this race just yet. Alonso pulled out of DRS range by lap 64, which left Button vulnerable to attack from behind.
There were only .3s between second and third out of the hairpin at Turn Six by lap 65, Vettel was riding on top of Button’s gearbox at this point.
On lap 66, Vettel went around the outside of Button at Turn Six. He ran wide but completed the move and was now up to second! Brundle reckoned it was completed off the track, but that Vettel would escape punishment. However, Button was immediately onto his radio to complain, he thought he was owed the position.
The complaint was centred around whether or not Vettel gained an advantage by running all four wheels outside the white lines that dictate where the track starts and ends. Vettel definitely had all four wheels off the track, so it was about whether or not he gained an advantage in doing so.
It was all immaterial as the race concluded on lap 67 and it was Alonso who took home his third victory of the 2012 season! He was under intense pressure throughout, but he managed the pace excellently and held on to comfortably take the victory.
Post-Race
The stewards announced that Vettel was under investigation and by the time the three drivers arrived in the cooldown room they were able to discuss the incident for themselves. But not before they both credited Alonso with a fantastic drive.
“I didn’t know whether you were inside or not, so that’s why I left,” said Vettel to Button.
The cooldown room has been host to a lot of dramatic conversations between rivals — the official F1 YouTube channel even highlighted 10 such great incidents — but this was a very calm discussion that both drivers had no issue accepting. It was up to the stewards now to decide the outcome.
“He hasn’t tried to keep on the track,” said Johnny Herbert for Sky Sports.
Sky’s selection of pundits were all in agreement that Vettel gained an advantage. Brundle, too, was now saying the German deserved punishment upon seeing the incident again. They relayed the options available to the stewards, of which there were many.
However, the three men stepped out onto the podium as if none of it happened, and for Alonso it may as well have not happened for he was enjoying the bliss of victory in a world of his own.
Britain saw a change in the podium ceremony that would last in F1 until 2018, whereby an interviewer would join the celebration after the national anthems and question the drivers. The great Niki Lauda had the honour this time around.
The former World Champion was clearly enjoying himself as Vettel and Button both poured champagne over Alonso while he tried to answer. Alonso had his revenge on Vettel and they all received a good champagne dunking for a finish. It was already proving a fun addition to the traditional rituals.
However, not long after the show was over, the stewards came to the conclusion that Vettel was at fault for his overtaking maneuver on Button. The Red Bull driver was handed a 20-second time penalty, which set him back to fifth place and promoted Raikkonen and Kobayashi into third and fourth.
The final standings were as follows
Championship Standings Top Five (Round 10)
Alonso’s lead at the halfway mark was now 34 points. Vettel lost out on eight points by falling from second to fifth, which meant he now trailed the Ferrari driver by 44 points. Alonso’s supreme consistency meant he was proving difficult to keep up with. He was the only driver inside the top five to have finished in a points position in every race so far.
The Ferrari lacked the pace to keep up at the front in those first four races, but Alonso drove himself into position to be within touching distance by the time the car was back up to scratch in Spain.
The Red Bull was proving to be quite erratic. At times, it looked to be by far the quickest car and other times it was stuck in the midfield with nowhere to go.
Hamilton led the championship after round seven in Canada, but since then only picked up four points from the next three races. He led Alonso by two points then, but was now 62 points behind. Button made up some ground on his teammates, but was still only seventh in the championship on 65 points.
Despite struggling to keep up with Alonso, Red Bull were now in total control of the constructor’s championship. They led with 230 points, Ferrari were second with 177 points. Massa simply wasn’t able to perform to nearly the same level of his teammate, which meant Alonso was mostly fighting Red Bull by himself.
The drop-off from McLaren was highlighted by their third place battle with Lotus. Only one point separated them, 160 and 159 respectively, but McLaren were supposed to be fighting Red Bull given the pre-season expectations.
Their performance in Germany indicated that the car was starting to thrive again, but it was another bad day at the office for Hamilton, whose puncture meant the team was never able to fight on both fronts at Hockenheim.
Season in Focus
We’ve reached the halfway point of this retrospective so now is as good a time as any to look back on the highs and lows of the opening first 10 races of the 2012 season.
So far, there have been seven different race winners from five different teams. There were also 11 drivers from seven teams who made it onto the podium, including the likes of Grosjean and Perez who achieved that feat for the first time in their F1 careers.
Drivers were mixing it up with battles between each other that would look incredibly out of place in modern F1. Seeing Grosjean and Hamilton duke it out in Valencia was striking because the idea of that happening at any time between 2014–2020 sounds absurd.
There were feelgood stories such as Raikkonen and Schumacher sharing the podium in Valencia. The two fought for championships, alongside Alonso who also stood with them on that podium, during an intense rivalry from 2003–2006 but were now firmly out of the picture.
Schumacher struggled during his return to the sport, but in 2012 he was showing flashes of his trademark brilliance and was competing with the young gun Rosberg, who later went on to win a championship of his own in 2016.
The on-track action was stellar, these cars were able to overtake around sections of the circuits that the cars in the hybrid era have been unable to do without a significant pace advantage for the car behind. There was a great blend of driver skill and team strategy that made for exciting and close racing.
The following 10 races were perfectly teed up for a thrilling finish to one of the most exciting seasons in the sport’s history.
Race Verdict
This race was similar to Canada in many ways. There was an exciting battle at the front between three top drivers, the midfield battle was consistently tight and ever-changing. The pace was thrilling, the action was near-constant.
It also lacked the surprise and chaos of a race like Malaysia or Valencia. Hamilton was the only DNF, and the likes of Raikkonen and Schumacher ended up in a race by themselves for large portions.
There were great strategic battles. McLaren working the undercut on Vettel to get Button into second, with the help of Hamilton unlapping himself, was very entertaining.
Seeing Alonso come under such intense scrutiny from them both was also very gripping, it really was a supreme drive from the Spaniard to hold on and control the race without ever looking like he was going to slip up or make a costly mistake.
The late controversy of Vettel’s illegal overtake of Button was a nice twist, but the maturity shown by both drivers in the cooldown room meant the fireworks were kept in storage for another day.
This race was entertaining, enjoyable but never thrilling in the way that separates good from greatness. But, at the halfway point of this season, good was still the minimum standard being set by most of these races. Despite Alonso opening up a gap in the championship, it was still all to play for with 10 races left to go.
Result: 4/5
Next up: HUNGARY
Previous entries in the series can be found here:
Part 10: Britain
(links to the rest can be found inside Part 10 or by clicking into my profile)